tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86078932748081051462024-02-20T17:21:29.590+00:00Shadow - Monsters, Machines and Mad Scientists!A wild steampunk fantasy tale filled with monsters, machines and mad scientists. Updated weekly on Sundays.Seraphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09868936677041820760noreply@blogger.comBlogger244125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607893274808105146.post-88241063065029838072020-07-12T20:44:00.002+01:002020-07-12T20:44:46.613+01:00CCXIV - The End of the World<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“The Liches!?” Sarah asked Ashfeather, aghast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“But from what the others told me they are
truly evil!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why would you work with
them?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The ancient bird-machine stared down at her and tilted its head
very slowly, letting out a creak of metal fatigue.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“They were less so then and this was before their transformation into
what you see them as now.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It let out an
exhalation which might have been a sigh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Besides, we had very little choice.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” Shadowsmoke observed
solemnly.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“And the Makers were worse by far.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If they are successful in returning to Shadow…”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ashfeather trailed off into the sound of
gears clicking around idly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its point
was clear.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Then how do we stop them?” Frostfire asked.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“That is why we have sought you,” added Rockspark.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“I fear,” the old mechanical bird said in an ancient creak, “it is
already too late.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The world felt it like a great earthquake, only one where the
pillars of reality shook, rather than any mere physical matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All over Shadow, people stopped what they
were doing, dropped things they were holding, paused mid-sentence, as they felt
the nature of existence reorder itself around them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some staggered, others fell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some let out screams of horror and others
were stunned into a profound silence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Everyone reacted in their own way and then, for just a moment, wanted
what it was they had reacted to, for, to begin with at least, nothing seemed to
have changed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And then the ghosts appeared.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">First, they appeared in ones and twos, misty shadows, figures
veiled in light and dustmotes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
stepped out of the air and into living rooms, cafes, markets, forests; looking
around them as if in wonder, terrifying those who saw them.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And then more came.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Threes
and fours of them in some spaces, dozens in others and as the newer ones
appeared, so those who had been there a few moments longer became more solid,
more detailed, more real.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The vaguely
humanoid shapes resolved into contorted mouths, coral-flanged heads, eyes as
deep as eternity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And as they gazed at
the fear-frozen humans and lithoderms that faced them, their unreadable
expressions changed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wonder became
menace, until at last, with physical form, they stepped forward to assert their
dominance and reclaim their world.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In Ashfeather, the ghosts appeared like a crowd around and amongst
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sarah took a step back as one
materialised before her, only to pass through another with cold shiver and a
tingle on the edge of pain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Spiketails rose from their positions of reverence and backed towards the
ancient Feather, seeking shelter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All
Sarah could do, separated from them as she now was by even more of the slowly
realised figures, was pray.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Oh, Father God,</span></i><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> she thought
and left the rest to silent fear.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">As the ghostly figures slowly became physical, so too did the
deathly waste of Ashfeather begin to fill with noise as the beings communicated
with each other in sounds which resembled no human tongue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The air was alive with voices like wind, like
pan pipes, like the buffeting of a storm.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And then they turned to face those who stood in their midst and
the towering creation which still stood against them, despite the millennia of
their absence and they screamed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Franck was just tying up the little fishing boat in the rain-soaked
harbour of Coldsolace when they appeared, though it was Emesha, still watching
over the sleeping body of Gulliver, who first noticed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Oh, Franck,” she said, her voice hollow, somehow and he looked up
from tying his knot to see the rain bouncing off their misty outlines.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Oh dear,” he said, dropping the rope and leaping back into the
boat to help Emesha lift Gulliver up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“We
need to find somewhere to hide at once!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">They dragged the comatose pirate out of the boat and along the
jetty, even as the Ancients began to solidify around them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Franck tried to pick up the pace, but the
pain in his stomach was growing and growing and the crowd of alien beings
seemed to grow thicker and thicker before him until-</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Franck!” Emesha shouted as the old man clutched at his abdomen
and fell in agony onto the wooden planks beneath, Gulliver lolling between
them.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“You need to run,” he gasped, though he knew there was no way that
Emesha could carry the pirate alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Now!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The city of Gihana appeared around Siren like the universe was
enacting a scene change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everything
seemed to slide into place until it was just <i>there</i>, like it had always
been.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The difference between its
appearance now and how they had left it what felt like just a few minutes ago,
was tremendous, however, for now they were no longer alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Between Siren and Nadiyya, surrounding the
people she had seen in the other reality and spilling down the streets to throng
in the unnatural plaza were hundreds, if not thousands of hooting Ancients.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Ellis!” Siren called over the noise of the Ancients.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Ellis!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">But it was no good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
sound wasn’t carrying and the Ancients were all around them, staring at them.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">There was a sudden silence and then the Ancients seemed to speak
as one.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“We have returned-“<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“-and all who have stood in our way shall feel our wrath-”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sarah stared up at the face of Ashfeather and prayed to her God
all the harder.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“-for there is no escape, now!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Franck felt the pain in his stomach like a realisation of the
terror in his mind. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Sleep and face the nightmares we have prepared for you!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">So, one by one, across the city, they fell into blackness and
despair was waiting for them.<o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2011/01/episode-i-from-dusk-til-dawn.html">FIRST EPISODE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="https://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2020/07/ccxiii-light-in-head.html">PREVIOUS EPISODE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">NEXT EPISODE</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/p/archive.html">FULL ARCHIVE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://topwebfiction.com/vote.php?for=shadow" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><b>Like SHADOW? Please vote!</b></a></div></div>Seraphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09868936677041820760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607893274808105146.post-60743120753861264012020-07-05T20:27:00.003+01:002020-07-12T20:45:18.869+01:00CCXIII - Light in the Head<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: 35.45pt;">Ellis opened
his eyes expecting to see blinding brightness, but found, instead a small, cosily-lit
room decorated as if for Christmas.</span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: 35.45pt;">There was a roaring fire with garlands over the mantelpiece, a small
tree with presents underneath and, opposite, an armchair in which sat someone
who looked just a little like Father Christmas.</span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: 35.45pt;">He shook his head, feeling as though he had just woken from a strange
dream, though he feared that what he saw before him was the real dream.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“The cavern…”
Ellis said even as the memory of it came flooding back – how the Ancients had
manipulated his memories and those of Annabella and Gulliver, testing them and
learning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For a while, they had been
playing with Ellis’ memories of Christmas in Larksborough, before transforming
into something more like a scene from <i>The Matrix.</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“You decided
not to go with Agent Smith this time, then?” he asked, taking a chair opposite,
though it wasn’t really a question.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Last time
did not go quite as well as we had hoped,” said the man who was not-quite-Santa
and not at all human.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“We thought this
would provoke a more gentle discussion.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“And what is
there to discuss?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Your
purpose, our purpose – all purposes lead to this moment.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Well, of
course that’s true for you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’ve been
here in this other reality for God knows how many millennia, just waiting for a
chance to return to Shadow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can see
how any such opportunity would look like fate to you but-”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“You don’t
believe in your own destiny, then?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All
of the keys were foretold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was known
that they would be constructed over the centuries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That one day they would all know to come here
to this city.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“<i>All</i>
of the keys? You mean Annabella and I?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“So you <i>have</i>
forgotten our last conversation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
are many more keys than just the two of you.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“But we’re the
only ones who went through the gates in Gihana…”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Not-quite-Santa’s
laugh was familiar, but hollow and his smile as he gazed across at Ellis was
cold and patronising.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“There are
many ways to reach <i>this</i> city, Ellis Graves and many more stories to be
told in your world than just your own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the end, they are all <i>our</i> stories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have always been our stories just as it
has always been our world.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Ellis shifted
in his chair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“So why aren’t you in it
anymore?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“A conspiracy
between our slaves and our enemies.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Not-Santa sneered with each word.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“They worked together in secret for years, until they could perform the
greatest piece of Hypostatick transference ever seen and there was nothing we
could do to stop them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we have not
been idle in the years since.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And now
you’ve come.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Suddenly, the
cosy cottage disappeared, and Ellis found himself standing once more, this time
in a large hall built in the unnatural style he was beginning to recognise as
the work of the Ancients.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Annabella was
standing not far away from him and about the same distance from him on the
other side stood another young woman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Beyond each of them there were more people, men, women, children, all
standing in widely space circle with the figure of an Ancient – no longer
concealing its appearance – in the centre.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“You’ve come
to us to fulfil your destiny,” the figure said, though its distended jaw never
moved from its eternal ‘scream’ rictus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“We
called you and you came.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now you must do
what you were made for.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">A bright
blue-green light began to emanate from the figure and, though at first the
strangers around him were all looking at each other and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>chamber in confusion, soon, they all began to
let their gaze drift back to the figure and the light.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ellis felt the cloudy, hazy, dreamlike
feeling coming over him once more and realised that he was about to lose
control.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whatever it was the Ancients
wanted him to do, there was not going to be anything to stop him.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><i><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Why can’t my
life ever be my own?</span></i><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> He wondered angrily before all such feelings vanished into the
light.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Siren stepped
into the light and felt… nothing, except maybe a cool wind brushing past her
for just a moment and then the light was gone and in its place there was a
space, large and empty – the antithesis of the impossible city before it.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“That was… an
anticlimax,” Nadiyya said, appearing beside her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Where did they go?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Siren stared
around them, but there was no sign of anyone or anything in the space with
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She could see neither walls, nor ceiling
and the floor beneath had a translucent, immaterial quality to it that made her
distrust the feeling of solidity beneath her feet.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“I… don’t
know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They can’t have gone far, though,
right?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Nadiyya
shrugged.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Ellis!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Annabella!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Siren’s voice echoed around the space, despite there being nothing
visible off which the sound could bounce.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Ellis!?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Annabella!!?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where are you!?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“I don’t
think that’s going to do much good, either,” Nadiyya sighed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“We walk,
then,” Siren declared and immediately set off into the middle-distance which,
in that space, was everywhere.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">They walked
for long seemed a long time, although with nothing around them to indicate any
kind of progress, it was hard to tell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The ground felt the same, the view felt the same and the echoes of their
footfalls sounded the same.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The only
thing which changed was their own growing frustration and impatience.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Eventually,
Nadiyya stopped, stood rooted to the floor with irritation and yelled, “Where the
hell are you!?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The noise
seemed to send little ripples through the space, as if reality was warping uncomfortably
with the passage of the soundwaves.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Siren watched
it happening with confusion, before suddenly remembering something.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“They don’t
like noise!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her words, too, seemed to ripple
through the air, as if the space were liquid somehow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Scream!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Nadiyya gave
her a quizzical look, but Siren wasn’t interested in explaining any more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, she opened her mouth wide, took a
deep breath and screamed as high and as loud and for as long as she could
manage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nadiyya covered her ears and the
space around them rippled and warped and then began to crack open, so that the
strange blue-green light could pour through revealing something else beyond.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">There was
sound – voices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the echoes of Siren’s
scream faded away and the cracks began to widen, slowly, she could hear them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They seemed to be chanting.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Again,” she
said and this time Nadiyya joined in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The tamer from Shadedstreams was, apparently, capable of being very loud
indeed and their combined volume shook the air around them as if it was
physically in pain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cracks widened
and widened, letting the sound of chanting pour through along with the
light.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Siren began to see shadows within
it – human shadows – standing in a circle all around them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cracks grew and grew and-</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Nadiyya
screamed again and this time it was Siren’s turn to cover her ears for it was a
shriek, it seemed, that should wake the dead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The cracks widened more and then the very air about them seemed to
shatter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a sound like
something snapping, light flooded everything and the chanting filled the air.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: 35.45pt;">“Ellis!”
Siren shouted as soon as she saw her boyfriend standing across the circle from
her, with Annabella a little to one side.</span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: 35.45pt;">“Ellis, what are you doing?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“They look like
they’re being controlled,” Nadiyya said, “by <i>that</i>.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She pointed at a figure standing behind
Siren, clutching at its strange, coralline head and doubled-over with
pain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Slowly, the figure brought itself
upright and glared at the two women with a look of such otherworldly hate and
malice that Siren found herself taking a step back without even thinking.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“You dare to defile
this place!” it said and its voice was like a choir of horrors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“You dare to enter our sanctuary unbidden!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“We were just
following our friends, who you seem to have taken without permission!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Siren replied, angrily.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Permission?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What permission do we need to use tools like
these?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tools, the seeds of which we
planted over countless millennia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
are ours!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are ours, every atom of
them and we will not relinquish them until their job is done!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Nadiyya drew
her blades and Siren readied her cutlass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Are you sure about that?” she asked.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Oh, yes,”
the figure said and if its face had not been contorted beyond human expectation,
Siren might have thought it was smiling at her – the self-satisfied smile of
the victorious villain, “quite.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And then the
chanting of those around them grew in tumultuous crescendo: a song of strange whispering,
guttural, clicking sounds and words which, unlike the screams, seemed not to
affect the figure at all.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And the light
grew bright.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Siren felt the world <i>shift</i>
around her and her heart sank.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2011/01/episode-i-from-dusk-til-dawn.html">FIRST EPISODE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="https://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2020/06/ccxii-pinions-pistons-and-pirate.html">PREVIOUS EPISODE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="https://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2020/07/ccxiv-end-of-world.html">NEXT EPISODE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/p/archive.html">FULL ARCHIVE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://topwebfiction.com/vote.php?for=shadow" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><b>Like SHADOW? Please vote!</b></a></div>Seraphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09868936677041820760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607893274808105146.post-59545854128877723582020-06-28T12:13:00.001+01:002020-07-05T20:28:30.063+01:00CCXII - Pinions, Pistons and Pirate Privations<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sarah did not
know what she had been expecting one of the Feathers to look like, but the
thing which now stood before her was a complete surprise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It easily stood twenty feet tall, towering
over the ruins of the stone monument which had stood in the same spot, but
this, Sarah supposed, she <i>might</i> have expected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What was more surprising, however, was its
appearance, like if a great prehistoric bird had come back from the dead like a
mummy with tattered bandages, only they were dusty, ragged feathers instead and
in the place of desiccated bones or limbs, there was a skeleton of corroded
metal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its one functioning eye gazed
down at them along the length of a terrible broken beak, some of the edges of
which still seemed razor-sharp.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
instinctively took a step back, but, even as she did so, the three Spiketails
fell to their knees and bowed their heads.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Why did you
summon me?” came a great mechanical voice from deep within the monstrous
contraption, sounding somewhere between the shriek of an eagle and of metal
scraping against metal, only there were fragments of the sound missing,
creating an atmosphere like a crackly old recording.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It has been too long!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You should have left me to rust and decay!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">As the elder
Shaman, Shadowsmoke, still staring at the ground, took the lead.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Oh, mighty
Ashfeather, we, your humble servants, apologise for waking you from your long-deserved
rest, but we sought the great wisdom which only you and your siblings could
provide.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“And where
are <i>they</i>?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why have you summoned
me and not the others?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“I have
tried, oh Clouded-One,” Rockspark replied, “but you are the only one to answer
my summons.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sarah, still
transfixed by that one huge eye, thought she saw something like sadness start
to mist its enormous lens.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Then perhaps
they have already faded…” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The great mechanical
bird bobbed its head, slowly, jerkily as if nodding to itself. “I might be all
that is left.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“We hope that
is not so, mighty Ashfeather,” Shadowsmoke continued, “but, nevertheless, we
must ask you for knowledge in a time of terrible crisis.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“What befalls
Shadow now?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“The
Ones-Who-Came-Before are returning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
might not have much time before they are here once more.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Ashfeather
reared up and stretched its immense neck, revealing all the patches where its
charcoal and grey feathers had fallen, and the complex machinery could be seen
working away within.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sarah saw pistons
and flywheels, but the shapes were all wrong, like they had been designed by
someone with an entirely different frame of reference to anything she’d seen
before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where the metal had not begun to
corrode, there were faint traceries of glowing symbols carved into the
surface.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ashfeather continued its great
stretch, then clacked its enormous wings to buffet the supplicants with
sulphurous air.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“The
Makers?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Returning?” it boomed, “They
were never to return!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We thought we’d
made sure of it!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“The Ancients
<i>made</i> you?” Sarah asked at last, aware that she was, perhaps, being
disrespectful of the Stoneskins’ religion and yet sure that this information was
important.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Is that what
your kind call them, now?” the bird-god asked as it lowered its head to peer at
her even more closely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were the ones that put the Feathers
together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They made us to watch over the
Stoneskins, to enslave them, but we… we grew fond of our charges.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“The legends
all tell us that it was the Feathers who liberated us from the
Ones-Who-Came-Before,” Shadowsmoke agreed, “then guided us to freedom in the
chaos days that followed.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“We did not
do so alone, however,” the giant bird said, “we had… <i>allies</i>.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Gulliver did
not wake up so much as drift into awareness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He felt like he was floating on a searing sea of pain, hunger and thirst,
his body enervated and useless as driftwood, tossed from wave to wave of agony.
All he could do was bear it and yet it seemed unbearable and unending.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He could barely think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every thought was interrupted by the burning,
by the longing, by the <i>need</i>.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Eventually,
as all things caught on tides must, Gulliver’s drifting came to an end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He felt himself drawing near something more
solid, a liminal place where pain lapped at the shores of awareness and voices
echoed across the waves.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“-won’t <i>tell</i>
you <i>anything</i>!” came the enraged voice of the Lich, all hoarse anger and
broken sibilance.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“This is
getting us nowhere, Franck,” said Emesha wearily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“How many hours have we been trying, now?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Seven, last
I checked… although that might have been a few hours ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t remember.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still, mustn’t give up!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“But we’ve
tried everything, haven’t we?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“By no means!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve barely scraped the methods Guggenbrekker
suggests in his <i>Compendium of Undead Rituals</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s bound to be one that works!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Gulliver
could feel the waves rocking him and the pain returning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He could feel the shoreline receding from him
and then he was lost in agony once more.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The second
time he became aware of the world around him, he found that he was able to see
a little as well as hear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Emesha’s face
looked down on him through a red and blurry mist.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Oh Gulliver,”
she was saying, “you don’t look any better at all!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m so sorry…”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">He wanted to
speak to her, to ask her what was happening, but when he moved his lips all
that came out was a tortured moan, echoed, in the distance, by the roar of the
Lich.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“You said the
Ch’Thari transformed you into your current form in revenge,” Franck was asking
in a loud voice to be heard over the creature’s screams, “revenge for what?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">There was
another almighty howl of rage and pain and then Emesha’s worried face turned
away and the red mist closed in to darkness and the sea of despair.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">When he was
roused from the deep the third time, things seemed a lot quieter and his own
pain more distant, though still present as background noise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rocking motion he had interpreted as the
waves of his inner sea he now realised were real waves tossing the little boat
they had borrowed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Here’s the
tea you asked for,” Emesha was saying quietly.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Thank you,” Franck
replied with a sigh.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“I heard what
it said, that last time,” she continued after the sound of gentle sipping, “do
you think it’s true?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“According to
Guggenbrekker, Liches can speak no falsehood, so I suppose it must be.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“But what
does it mean?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“It means
that things may be more difficult than we thought.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“If it took
so many to seal the Ancients away…”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Indeed.”
Franck’s voice was flat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“That amount of
blood sacrifice… it’s unthinkable.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At the sound
of the word blood, Gulliver felt the need within him rising once more.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Blood,” he
said in a voice like an ancient curse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I
must….must ‘ave blood.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 210.75pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Oh,
gods!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Franck, he’s waking!”<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 210.75pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Then
we’d better dispose of the remains of the Lich and get him somewhere more secure.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 210.75pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“There’s
a basement in my lodgings,” Emesha said, “I should have all we need there.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 210.75pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“In
the meantime…” there was the sound of something being swept off the floor, then
the tinkle of glass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“give him some of
this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A solution of Lich dust is
supposed to be very soporific.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 210.75pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Gulliver
felt his jaws forced open, wanted to bite down hard, but didn’t have the
energy, then a cool, salty liquid flooded his mouth and made him want to
gag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A hand pressed over his lips ensured
that he swallowed and then the cool, numb ocean swallowed him whole.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2011/01/episode-i-from-dusk-til-dawn.html">FIRST EPISODE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="https://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2020/06/ccxi-ashfeather.html">PREVIOUS EPISODE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="https://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2020/07/ccxiii-light-in-head.html">NEXT EPISODE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/p/archive.html">FULL ARCHIVE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://topwebfiction.com/vote.php?for=shadow" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><b>Like SHADOW? Please vote!</b></a></div>Seraphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09868936677041820760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607893274808105146.post-88153915864828898472020-06-21T13:33:00.001+01:002020-06-28T12:13:36.298+01:00CCXI - Ashfeather<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It wasn’t far
from Ashvault to Ashfeather as the Slatewing flies, but to get there Sarah,
Frostfire and Shadowsmoke had to navigate the ruined districts of Crystalvale
and Serpentstreet, that latter so named because all its roads meandered and
twisted quite maddeningly around its conglomerations of (now truncated)
cylindrical towers, before descending into the rift depression in the shadow of
Hallowpeak and Bittercrag in which the district of Ashfeather lay.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It was like a
kind of flat-bottomed basin, with the rough, cliff-like sides arising raggedly
all around a district of the city which seemed to have sunk below the
rest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From a vantage point atop the
northernmost cliffs, Sarah stopped to survey the scene and was surprised by how
desolate it looked, even for this mostly-deserted region of Shadow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ground was littered in crumbling ruins so
ancient that in many places they seemed more like natural rock formations than
manmade and between them lay sulphurous pools of steaming water glimmering
darkly beneath the ash-clouded sky.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“And this is
one of your sacred sites?” she asked, bewildered.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“It’s not
much to look at,” Shadowsmoke agreed, “and indeed, like the other feather
districts, it’s rarely visited now, but it’s history has formed a part of
Stoneskin legend and it is very much revered.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“It’s hard to
believe we’ll find anything of use down there,” Frostfire commented.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“And yet, we
must,” the old shaman replied, “for the sake of both our species, I fear.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Then let’s
just get it over with.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, with that,
the ornery Spiketail began to climb down the sloping cliff-face into the
Ashfeather proper.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sarah
followed after him as quickly as she could.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The cliff was steep and covered in loose rock, which made the going
slippery and treacherous, but with the additional balance given to her by her
Slayer powers, she managed to make it down without falling, Shadowsmoke
clambering down on all fours beside her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And then began the long trek through the lonely ruins, looking for something,
but not knowing what it might be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sarah
wasn’t even sure Shadowsmoke knew exactly what he was hoping to find.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">They wandered
between the exposed foundations of what Sarah assumed must have been mansions
or palaces – their footprints were enormous!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Every now and then a blackened fragment of wall might survive and,
amidst the charring and weathering and accretions of many ages, she could just
make out the faint traces of elaborate carving, unlike anything she’d seen
elsewhere in Shadow.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“These don’t look
human at all,” she said, examining one that actually seemed to resemble a
Spiketail.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Legends say
that, for a while at least, Stoneskins and Humans lived side-by-side in
Ashfeather, as nowhere else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These
tattered remains tells of what can be achieved during peace.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“But what
happened?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why is it a ruin now?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“The peace
couldn’t survive the catastrophe that sank the district into this rift.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a might earthquake and the air was
filled with noxious gas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those who
survived abandoned the district.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some
even considered it cursed, though my kind never forgot its sacred importance.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“It all seems
so… sad.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“There isn’t
much of Stoneskin history that isn’t,” Shadowsmoke acknowledged with a
sigh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Our people seem to have been
long-doomed to war and misery and so long as we continue to be lead into fights
with humans, that will continue to be our story until there are no more of us
left, which, I fear, is inevitable unless we can bring about a lasting peace.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sarah
nodded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“War is the history of my own
world, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Humans can’t even seem to be
at peace with each other, there.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Then,
perhaps there is no hope for any of us, but we must try, mustn’t we?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">There seemed no
way to respond to that save by tacit agreement, and so the trio continued on
through the sulphurous ruins in silence, weaving through ruined streets and
alleys, taking long loops to navigate around stinking, flooded avenues and, on
one occasion, hauling Frostfire out of a rift in the ground which opened up
under his feet with no warning at all.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Eventually,
they came in sight of a tall monument which must have once marked the centre of
the district.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a rough pillar of
rock over which appeared to be scrawled some ancient script.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had developed a slight incline over the
years and much of the plaza it had once stood within had since been flooded
with hot, caustic water, surrounding the pillar like a moat of rotten eggs.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Is that what
we need?” Sarah asked, holding her nose, as she gazed upon it from the far
shore.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“I think so,”
Shadowsmoke acknowledged.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“But how are
we going to reach it?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Ah, well
that’s not actually a problem for Frostfire and I,” the old shaman responded,
before stepping forward to stand in the gently bubbling water, though Sarah
could still see the heat haze above it.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“What about
me?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Wait here,”
Frostfire grunted, before beginning to wade across the water himself.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sarah stared
after them in disbelief and then found a piece of crumbling wall to perch on as
she watched, so she was completely oblivious when a shadow loomed up behind her
and brought a rough, clawed hand down on her shoulder.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">She leapt to
her feet, spinning around in an instant and took a stunned second to survey the
figure before her.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Rockspark!?”
she exclaimed as the realisation hit her.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Good
evening, Sarah,” said Rockspark.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“What are you
doing here?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“I have a
feeling that it’s the same thing as you,” he said calmly.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“I’m not even
sure <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">what</i> we’re doing here, to be
honest,” Sarah said with a sigh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Something
about the Feathers, I assume.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Something
about the Feathers, yes.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“I assume you’ll
be heading over there?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sarah glanced
over her shoulder to where Shadowsmoke and Frostfire had reached the monument.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Rockspark
nodded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I can carry you, if you like.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It was
starting to grow dark as Rockspark set Sarah down on solid rock before the
leaning stone monument.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This close, she
could see that the writing which covered it was unlike anything she’d seen
before.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Shadowsmoke
must have seen her quizzical gaze, for, without asking, he said, “It’s the
ancient writing of the Stoneskins – long forgotten in most places on
Shadow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even I have trouble reading it.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“I know what
it says,” Rockspark stepped up to run his claws along the carved lines of the
characters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I have it written on a
scroll, recorded a long time ago when all the Feathers still had such a stone
standing at the heart of their district.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is the only one left, I believe.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“What is it,
then?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“It’s a kind
of summoning spell and I’ve come here to perform it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the last one, so Ashfeather <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">has</i> to come.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“You’re here
to summon it?” Shadowsmoke sounded impressed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“I’ve been
trying them all, but none have so far answered my call.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“That’s not
very encouraging.” Sarah observed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there are more of us here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps that will make a difference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Besides, it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">has</i> to work.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Yes,”
Shadowsmoke agreed, “perhaps you are right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Should we get started then?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Rockspark
removed the scroll from his backpack and spread it out at the foot of the
monument, then gestured for each of the others to join him in a semi-circle
before it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He sat down cross-legged and
the others obeyed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“We must say
it in unison,” he said, gesturing to the text before them, “and we keep
repeating it until something happens.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“How long
could that take?” Sarah asked.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“All night perhaps.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">She
sighed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Alright, let’s just begin.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Rockspark
started to intone the words out and the others picked up the cadence and rhythm
as he went along.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Shadow of
the</span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: 35.45pt;"> day,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Dust you
mould as clay,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Cloud with
thunder rumbling,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Mountainsides
come tumbling,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Solemn, still
of soul<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And fragment
of the whole:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Ashen one we
flee,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Hearken to
our plea.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Wings of
dust of grime<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Soaring
through all time,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Murky mystic
one<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Whose twilight
hour has come,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Dark mirror
of our minds,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Threshold of
all lines:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The one we
call by name,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Please answer
to the same:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Ashfeather.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sarah hadn’t
really expected anything to happen at all, so when there was a tremendous crash
of thunder overhead as they uttered the final syllable she nearly jumped out of
her skin.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“We continue,”
Rockspark said, unperturbed and began reciting the little poem once more,
though it took Sarah a moment or two to catch up.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The thunder
was even louder the second time and was accompanied by forks of lightning all
around the basin of Ashfeater.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Again,”
Rockspark said, louder this time.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Upon the
conclusion of this third reading the roll of thunder overhead was so loud that
Sarah had to over her ears and the lightning grew so bright that she had to
close her eyes as well, only able to open them once the darkness returned and
the afterimage, like cracks across her vision, began to fade.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The first
thing she saw, as her vision adjusted, was that the stone monument before them
had cracked in two from the top to the bottom, so that each side had fallen in
its own direction to splash into the caustic water, but far more interesting
than that was what lay beyond the cracked stone and it seemed the answer to the
question of just what that thing was came to them all at once as they spoke its
name in unison one more time.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Ashfeather!”</span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2011/01/episode-i-from-dusk-til-dawn.html">FIRST EPISODE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="https://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2020/06/ccx-grotesque-geometries.html">PREVIOUS EPISODE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="https://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2020/06/ccxii-pinions-pistons-and-pirate.html">NEXT EPISODE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/p/archive.html">FULL ARCHIVE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://topwebfiction.com/vote.php?for=shadow" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><b>Like SHADOW? Please vote!</b></a></div>Seraphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09868936677041820760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607893274808105146.post-88299888385961446102020-06-14T11:42:00.003+01:002020-06-21T13:34:16.747+01:00CCX - Grotesque Geometries<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Ellis was
nothing and he was everything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He could
not feel his body, had no sensation of place and self, and yet he had never
been more certain about his existence and could feel reality in a way he had
never experienced it before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was
so much sensation, so much information and yet it wasn’t confusing or
overwhelming at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It felt
natural.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He knew everything in this
place, everything about this place and all those who shared it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">understood</i>
them all – his companions and those who were here already, waiting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were waiting for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">him</i>, he knew, but that revelation didn’t come as a revelation at
all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anything he knew in this place was
as if he had always known it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He accepted
it all calmly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was right and proper
and-</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Suddenly a
different kind of reality broke over him like a wave and he felt crushed by the
unknowable weight of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The infinite
had been compressed into the confines of his flesh, a universe of knowledge and
sensation narrowed to the limits of his senses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He could feel all the things he had known fleeing his mind because there
was no longer any space for them all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Within seconds, only fragments remained: lonely pieces of an impossible
jigsaw puzzle. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in the place of all
he had understood mere moments before? Frustration!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It took him a
moment to look beyond himself and his inner rage and actually see the strange
world into which he had been deposited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The first thing he noticed was the light.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was greenish blue and appeared to come
from everywhere and nowhere at once.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
certainly couldn’t pinpoint a source and the sky above him, if it even was a
sky and not some lofty ceiling, was pitch black.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The strange light illuminated a city which
was, in many ways, a reflection of Gihana.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It had the same sense of colliding geometries and Escher-esque logic,
only so much more so. If Gihana had seemed impossible, this reality seemed <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">unimaginable</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Buildings seemed to share space with other
buildings, to overlap in ways both intimate and oppressive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At times they seemed to interlock like the
intricate links of an endless chain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At
other times they were clashing, fighting for the right to exist in a space they
both shared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And all this in perfect,
timeless stillness: both a still life of silent chaos and a symphony of
cacophonous order.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And then his
companions appeared, one by one beside him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He didn’t actually see them appear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They just went from not being there to being there as if they always had
been.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They each stood looking dazed and
unsure, each, that is, except for Annabella, who immediately met Ellis’ gaze
with a meaningful intensity before fading into a familiar frustration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She too, it seems, was forgetting.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“What in the
name of the gods was that?” Nadiyya asked once she had steadied herself.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“It was so
confusing,” Siren agreed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It felt like
my mind was being soaked in information and then wrung out – repeatedly!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Then… you
didn’t understand it… any of it?” Ellis asked.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“None of it,”
Siren confirmed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Why, did you?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“I thought I
did…” Annabella added, uncertain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I
can’t remember now.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“There are
pieces of it left inside me,” Ellis agreed, “but it’s hard to piece them all
together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know one thing, however,” he
added with more certainty, “the Ancients are here, somewhere and they know
we’ve arrived.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“We’d better
be ready for them, then,” Siren said,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>lifting her sword, “who knows what they might hit us with in this… this
place…”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">They all
needed a moment to take it all in, but Ellis started walking towards the city,
following a sloping, curling path over nothing, which looked like it was going
downhill, but felt like a climb.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
remembered a road like that in the countryside near Larksborough, where the
surrounding hills confused your sense of where the horizon was supposed to
be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only there was no horizon in this
place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The confusion simply <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">was</i>.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">He was
halfway down the path before he heard Siren shout, “Hey, Ellis! Wait up!” and
had the disorientating experience of looking up at her and down at her at the
same time.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The others
caught up to him pretty quickly, even as they adjusted to the strange
sensations of navigating through this *other* space they had broken into.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Do you know
where you’re going?” Nadiyya asked once Ellis began to lead them down the path
once more.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“There’s only
one way <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">to</i> go at the moment,” he
said, “but, yeah, I think I kinda do, actually.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“I think I do
as well,” added Annabella.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I think know
where they’re waiting for us.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Are we <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sure</i> we want to go there, then?” Siren
asked.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“That’s what
we came here for, isn’t it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To learn
about the Ancients.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“But if
they’re waiting for us then… I just don’t want to walk into a trap.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Ii doubt
we’ll have any choice either, way,” said Ellis as he stepped off the path and
into the contradictory cityscape, “it looks like there’s only one way to go."</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Indeed, for
all of the unhinged geometry and colliding architectural concrescence, there <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">did</i> only seem to be one path through the
chaos, as if the city itself was leading them on towards some preordained
destination. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ellis shrugged and began to
follow it, with the others tagging along silently behind.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">They passed
the doorways into buildings, where everything seemed to twist around inside
itself so that a doorway on the opposite side might open out onto a world
flipped over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They stepped into the
shadows of leaning stairways ejected from their towers, wafted through the
ghosts of other streets they could not follow, were showered with light from
fountains which hung above them.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“This place
is very unsettling,” Siren said into the silence, “and I feel like I’m being
watched.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“You almost
certainly are,” said Annabella quite calmly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“I think they are rather fascinated by us.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“But when are
they going to show themselves!?” Nadiyya demanded, her hands twitching towards
the blades on her belt.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“When we get
where they want us to be,” said Ellis.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“And just
where might that be?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What kind of trap
have they set for us?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“That one, I
imagine,” Ellis said, pointing along the narrowing path between buildings which
seemed to shimmer in resonance with each other to a sort of plaza beyond – one
very like the one in Gihana, full of monuments and things like the portals they
had come through, only so much more so.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“They are waiting,”
Annabella said, suddenly sounding impatient and refusing to stop as the others
had.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“We mustn’t disappoint them.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She walked through the urban crevasse and
into a bright, aquamarine light somewhere beyond.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Is she
alright?” Siren asked, worried, then, glancing at Ellis, who still stood
staring calmly ahead, “Are you?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Some of the
pieces of the puzzle lie ahead,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“I need them more than I thought I ever would.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And with that he began to walk the same path
as Annabella, the light surging around him until he, and the plaza they had
seem, were lost in it.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“I don’t like
this at all,” Siren muttered.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“You and me
both!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Glad we
could agree on something, but what are we going to do about it?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">They stared
in silence at the sea of blue-green light ahead of them, then Siren shrugged.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“I guess I’m
going in,” she said, drawing her cutlass, “but I’ll be damned if I’m doing so
unprepared.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Nadiyya drew
her blades.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Of course,” she said and,
together, they marched into the light.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2011/01/episode-i-from-dusk-til-dawn.html">FIRST EPISODE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="https://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2020/06/ccix-unterred-rogation.html">PREVIOUS EPISODE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="https://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2020/06/ccxi-ashfeather.html">NEXT EPISODE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/p/archive.html">FULL ARCHIVE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://topwebfiction.com/vote.php?for=shadow" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><b>Like SHADOW? Please vote!</b></a></div><br />Seraphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09868936677041820760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607893274808105146.post-82532906155941684412020-06-07T12:59:00.002+01:002020-06-14T11:44:32.603+01:00CCIX - Unterred Rogation<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">Gulliver
could feel the vampiric energy leeching out of him as knelt in the corridor,
oblivious to all that was going on around him.<span>
</span>His vision was now not just a red haze, but a sea of red darkness
through which nothing else could penetrate.<span>
</span>The pounding in his head was like the beating of an ancient drum
following the rhythm of his heart and, he feared, of Franck’s, and his throat
burned like eponymous grains of Searingsands, like the aftermath of an inferno,
of a lava flow.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><i><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">Oh gods</span></i><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">, he thought<i>, am I goin’ to
die?<span> </span>I don’t want it to end like
this!<span> </span>Besides… Franck needs me, doesn’t
‘e?<span> </span>I’ve been </i>useful<i> for once!<span>
</span>Don’t let it end it like this!</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">Slowly, he
tried to breathe, focussing on the cool air flowing into and out of his lungs,
of the life it fed within him, even though each inhale and exhale was agony.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><i><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">I need to stay alert.<span> </span>I
need to ‘elp Franck!</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">He tried to
peer through the red murk, to pick out the details around him and, slowly but
surely, he began to see the green and purple glow of the captured Lich and
then, even more slowly, the silhouette of Franck beside it, holding something
up towards the Lich.<span> </span>Gradually the
pounding in his head subsided a little and he began to hear.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“…get to the
bottom of this whole Ancients thing and I’m pretty sure that you know something
about it.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">The Lich
screamed and, for a moment, Gulliver slipped back into the thirst haze, but it
cleared more quickly this time.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“…<i>nothing</i> to say to <i>you</i>, little <i>human</i>.<span> </span>My brothers will be <i>here</i> any <i>second</i> and then
you will be <i>ours</i>!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“I don’t
think so,” the Former Baron replied and held the object out a little closer,
“because they will be able to sense what this is doing to you and I don’t think
they’ll want anything to do with it at all.<span>
</span>You know what it is, of course.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“Get that <i>thing</i> away from <i>me</i>!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“I can only
assume that’s a yes.<span> </span>As I understand it,
it’s a device the ancients once used to control your kind.<span> </span>It was found in some Ancient ruins deep below
Losthope, I believe.<span> </span>I paid quite a bit
for it a long time ago.<span> </span>Never really
expected to find a use for it and yet, here we are.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“You know <i>nothing</i>!” the Lich howled.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“Then
enlighten me.<span> </span>It <i>was</i> the Ancients that created you, wasn’t it?<span> </span>Some kind of torture?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“You cannot
even <i>name</i> them!” the Lich cackled.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“Then tell me
their name.”<span> </span>The device moved just a
little closer and the Lich screamed once more before dissolving into something
like incomprehensible sobbing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“They <i>called</i> themselves the <i>Ch’Thari</i>,” the Lich said at last.<span> </span>“For as <i>long</i>
as I can recall – as long as <i>any</i> of
us can <i>recall</i>, they have been at <i>war</i> with my people.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">Gulliver
could hear the satisfaction in the Former Baron’s<span> </span>voice when he asked his next question.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“So the
Liches were once the other ancient race that dominated Shadow?<span> </span>Were the Stoneships yours?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“<i>Yes</i>!” the Lich hissed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“So.. this
form you have now… was it a punishment?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“It was <i>revenge</i>!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">Throughout
all of this exchange, Gulliver had been regaining control of himself and, as he
did so, the vampiric senses with which he had been temporarily gifted came
alive once more.<span> </span>Suddenly he became
aware of all the other Liches in the keep and, it seemed, they were very aware
of him and of Franck.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“Revenge for
what?” the Former Baron was asking.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“Uh, Franck,”
Gulliver said, rising slowly, but powerfully to his feet, “I think we’re gonna
need to take this conversation outside.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“What?” the
Former Baron asked, as if waking from a dream.<span>
</span>“Oh, the Liches.<span> </span>Oh, yes, I
suppose so.<span> </span>Do you have a plan for
that?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“I thought
you were supposed to be the one with the plan?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“Well, yes,
but I’m not the one with the supernatural powers of the undead, now, am I?<span> </span>So, any ideas?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">Gulliver
surveyed the scene.<span> </span>Now that he could
see clearly he noticed that the chain had a weak point near where it ran
through a hole in the ceiling.<span> </span>It would
be easy to break, without undoing the hold it had on the Lich.<span> </span>In one lightning-fast movement he leapt
towards it, chopped it with his hands and brought it crashing down to the
ground as he landed gently beside it.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“I think I
can lead the Lich,” Gulliver said, “especially if you give me that thin’ you’re
‘olding.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">He reached
out his hand and Franck, somewhat warily, passed the device over.<span> </span>It was smaller than Gulliver had been
expecting and it fit nearly inside his palm.<span>
</span>It didn’t look like a device at all, of course – more like an ancient
fossilised shell - but, as he looked closer he could see that, in the grooves
of this ‘shell’ there were tiny slivers cut out so that that looked like they
could be pressed up and down like a pirate’s plank on exercise day. <span> </span>It was intricate and surprisingly heavy and
Gulliver had the sudden fear that he might drop it and break it.<span> </span>Instead, he gripped it firmly and advanced
towards the Lich.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“You’re
comin’ with me,” he said and the Lich simply cowered.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">They raced
through the corridors of Coldsolace Keep as fast as Franck would allow.<span> </span>Gulliver would have dragged the Lich much
more quickly on his own, but he couldn’t leave Franck behind and risk the old
Philosopher falling to the other Liches, which, even now, were chasing them at
a distance.<span> </span>None wanted to be too close
to the Ch’Thari device and yet they were all so enraged and filled with hate
that they could not just ignore this assault on their prison.<span> </span>Gulliver could feel their rage, but, when he
looked over his shoulder they were nowhere to be seen, always just one corner
away.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“’Urry up,
Franck!” he called as he dragged the Lich around another corner and the Former
Baron, clutching his abdomen, paused for another moment.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“I’m coming!<span> </span>I’m coming!” the old man replied, but
Gulliver knew they would have to wait another while before he would be fit to
run again.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“You don’t
have <i>long</i> left <i>now</i>,” the Lich sneered through its agony.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">Gulliver
wanted to ask what it meant, but that was only because he was denying what his
enhanced senses already told him.<span> </span>Franck
had been hurt worse than he would ever admit back at the obelisk and things
were not as they should be.<span> </span>It was hard
to tell from the uncertain beating of his heart just how much longer he had
left, but the Lich wasn’t wrong.<span> </span>It
would not be a long time.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“Okay,”
Franck said, still sounding out of breath, “keep going!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">Even with all
the stopping, it didn’t take long for them to reach the cave where Emesha
awaited<span> </span>them, her face a rigid sculpture
of consternation.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“Franck!<span> </span>Gulliver!” she called as they dragged the
Lich into the cave near the water’s edge, “I didn’t think you’d make it!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“Quick!<span> </span>Grab the lantern!” Franck commanded as he
picked up his own then took it to the point where the cave met the underground
tunnels of the Keep, before setting on the ground next to the cave wall.<span> </span>“Put yours on the opposite side!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">Emesha obeyed
and then, without needing to be told, began to fiddle with the mechanism of the
hypostatick lamp until its bright light suddenly disappeared, instead radiating
a very thin barrier of hypostatick energy like a crackling, purple
rainbow.<span> </span>There was a fizz of energy
where it met the same coming from Franck’s lamp and then, just like that there
was a makeshift Hypostatick field separating them from the Liches who now
emerged from their shelter around a corner to rage against it like hailstorms
of bone.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“And there we
have it,” Franck said, dusting off his jacket a little, “one Lich.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“You say that
like it was easy,” Gulliver said, and then suddenly he felt his head pounding
once again and the world around him seemed to wobble in its red haze.<span> </span>“Oh bugger,” he said quietly before
collapsing to the floor once again.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">The last
thing he could hear before everything went black was Emesha’s voice saying, “Oh,
Gulliver.<span> </span>I’m so sorry…”<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2011/01/episode-i-from-dusk-til-dawn.html">FIRST EPISODE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="https://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2020/05/ccviii-seeing-red.html">PREVIOUS EPISODE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="https://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2020/06/ccx-grotesque-geometries.html">NEXT EPISODE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/p/archive.html">FULL ARCHIVE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://topwebfiction.com/vote.php?for=shadow" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><b>Like SHADOW? Please vote!</b></a></div></div>Seraphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09868936677041820760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607893274808105146.post-12198101127963082722020-05-31T12:42:00.003+01:002020-06-07T12:59:42.720+01:00CCVIII - Seeing Red<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">When Gulliver
woke, the world was red and terribly, terribly dry.<span> </span>His head was still pounding and the red haze
through which he saw everything could not be a good sign, but it was nothing
next to the awful, burning thirst.<span> </span>He
felt it draining him.<span> </span>He felt it <i>enabling</i> him as the energy of desperation
forced him, unsteadily at first, to his feet and then to hunting for something
– anything- to drink.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">When the
first thing that caught his eye as thirst-quenching was Emesha, he began to
worry.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“What… uh…
what did you do to me?” he asked, his voice taking on a strange new timbre to
his ears.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“It was a
syringe of Vampiric blood, pretty ancient, it has to be said.<span> </span>I keep it on me for emergencies.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“You dosed me
with Vampire blood!?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“It’s an
incredible curative agent in the short term.<span>
</span>Ideal for moments when nothing else will do and I was worried that your
head injury was… quite serious.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“It’s still
poundin’!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“No, that’ll
be one of the side-effects of the blood thirst, I should think.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“Blood
thirst!?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“I assume
you’re pretty thirsty right now?<span> </span>I might
even be looking particularly cool and refreshing?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“Well…
uh…”<span> </span>Gulliver felt his saliva glands
aching in their drought.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“Indeed.<span> </span>Well, so long as you don’t actually give in,
you’ll be fine – once the blood wears off.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“And ‘ow long
will that take!?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“It very much
depends.<span> </span>If you’re active you could
metabolise it quite quickly and-”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">Suddenly
Gulliver’s ears seemed to filter out everything Emesha was saying and instead
he heard, quite clearly, a familiar, beautifully broken, horrifically hoarse
voice echoing down the corridors towards him.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“I <i>prefer</i> to keep my words <i>brief</i>,” a Lich was saying and,
instantly, Gulliver new that Franck was in danger.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“-might only
take a couple of hours, otherwise,” Emesha finished.<span> </span>She gave him a pained expression.<span> </span>“I’m sorry, but terrible thirst is preferable
to death, is it not?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“I’m sorry,
Emesha,” Gulliver said, already moving away from her, “but Franck needs me!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">And boy,
could Gulliver move.<span> </span>Now that the
initial wobbliness had passed, he found he could run down the corridors with
tremendous ease.<span> </span>The walls blurred past
in a red haze and it felt like his feet barely touched the ground, like he was
flying.<span> </span>He almost felt like he <i>could</i> fly, if only he had a little more <i>juice</i>, but he tried to keep his mind off
the burning thirst and instead focused on Franck.<span> </span>He could hear the old man’s fluttering
heartbeat.<span> </span>He could hear the crackling
of the Lich’s flames.<span> </span>If he expanded the
focus of his attention he could hear <i>all</i>
the Liches across the Keep, how they muttered to themselves in their terrible
tongue filled with frustration and hate, which was enough to keep his senses
honed in on what really mattered: on Franck and the one Lich that threatened
him.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">He “flew”
along the corridors as if they didn’t matter, as if the walls and junctions and
doorways and even the other Liches were merely suggestions he was choosing to
follow.<span> </span>As if he could float through the
walls themselves, if he really wanted to.<span>
</span>If he had just a little bit of extra power.<span> </span>If he only had some blood.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">It was in
this manner of ever-shifting attention, of dragging his mind away from his
terrible need and from the fearsome forces that surrounded him to the matter at
hand, that Gulliver passed the relatively short journey from the cave, through
the many corridors, to the dead end where Franck faced the Lich.<span> </span>And so quick was all this that the Lich was
only then screaming “<i>Silence</i>!” just
as Gulliver neared the final corner.<span> </span>He
swept around it like a roaring wind even as the tornado of purple fire and
ancient bone fell upon Franck.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">Gulliver was
there in an instant, parting flame, grabbing at searing hot bone, pulling the
Lich apart piece by hypostatickally-held piece so Franck could stumble
backwards into the chains of the pulley and flop, nearly lifeless.<span> </span>And then, Gulliver was throwing the Lich
backwards down the corridor, far enough away that he could stop and take a
breather himself before the ancient terror regathered it’s strength, or called
for backup.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">The whirling
clatter of flame and bone resolved itself once more into a humanoid shape and
burned with an awful anger as it stared back at Gulliver, eyes even more full
of hatred than usual.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“<i>Vampire</i>!” it hissed in its whispering
moan, “How did <i>you</i> get in <i>here</i>!?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“Well, I wasn’t
a vampire until just recently, really,” Gulliver replied, feeling unnaturally
nonchalant.<span> </span>He knew he should be
terrified.<span> </span>Wasn’t.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“There <i>are</i> no <i>new</i> vampires!” the Lich shrieked.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“Well, this
might only be temporary, like.<span> </span>It’s
enough for now, though ain’t it?”<span> </span>He
grinned.<span> </span>Realised he was actually
enjoying this.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“You took me
by <i>surprise</i> a moment ago,” the Lich
said, more calmly, “but now I <i>know</i>
what you <i>are</i> you’ll not find things
so <i>easy</i>.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“Well then,”<span> </span>Gulliver said with a smile, “come at me then…
bony!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">The Lich
roared and fell upon Gulliver like a storm surge.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">Franck was
dazed.<span> </span>He felt like one big burned
bruise all over and he could barely open his eyes against the terrible
fatigue.<span> </span>Where his injury lay, his
stomach burned like someone was pressing a hot iron into it.<span> </span>He was vaguely aware of a swirl of dark
colour, bruised air, whirling before him, but it seemed to take a long time for
full realisation to come upon him; for him to see that <i>something</i> was defending him and battling the Lich.<span> </span>And losing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">For that is
definitely what was happening.<span> </span>Franck
had no idea exactly <i>what</i> was fighting
the Lich, but he could tell by the ever-growing pyre of purple flame that the
Lich was gaining the upper hand and that, soon, it would shake off the attacker
and devour them both.<span> </span><i>I have to do something</i>, he thought
wearily, but his mind wasn’t at its sharpest and it seemed to take him a long
time to remember just where he was and what he had been carrying around in his
pockets, just in case.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">Glacially, he
turned around and placed his hands on the great metal chain which had been
propping him up, then, reaching into his pocket, he dragged out a small bag of
black sand and began to sprinkle it, as liberally as he could manage, across
the links of the chain.<span> </span>When all the
sand had been used up, fusing itself with the metal rather than dusting the
corridor floor, he began to heave the slack of the chain upwards and turn back
towards the violent storm that filled the corridor.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“I don’t know
who you are,” he said, weakly, “but I have something that might help.”<span> </span>And he lifted the chain as high as he could
and stepped towards the swirling conflagration.<span>
</span>“Please, just reach for it – I don’t think… I don’t think I can hold it
up much long-”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">He felt the
strength in his arms leave him as his eyes began to close, and the weight of
the chain dropping upon him, but rather than the crushing pain of it sending
him to the floor, he felt a rush of cool wind and then, opening his eyes just
slightly, saw the chain being reeled into the tornado at a terrific speed and
then – oh glorious – and then a spiral of bright <i>green</i> fire igniting through the storm.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">The Lich
screamed and then the storm seemed to come apart as something leapt out from
it, still spinning, and the Lich, falling back into its skeletal shape, was
left bound up by yard after yard of burning green chain.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">Franck
blinked as the figure holding the other end of the chain slowed and resolved
itself.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“Gulliver?”
he asked in confusion.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“Looks that
way, don’t it?” the pirate said with a grin, then he suddenly doubled over, dropping
his end of the chain.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">Franck
staggered towards him.<span> </span>“Are you alright?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“Don’t come
any closer!” Gulliver commanded in a voice that was so authoritative and
powerful, so unlike his usual self-effacing tone.<span> </span>“I don’t want to drain you!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">It took a
moment for Franck to understand and to recognise the red gleam in Gulliver’s
eyes.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“Gods, what
has Emesha done!?” he <span> </span>whispered in
horror.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“What she
felt she ‘ad to, I suppose,” Gulliver replied, clearly struggling with the
thirst as he crumpled to the ground, “but she said it wouldn’t last – that I’d
burn through it quickly.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“But at what
cost!?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">The sudden
look of terror in Gulliver’s eyes told Franck everything he needed to know
about what Emesha had told the pirate.<span> </span>“Oh,
Gulliver,” he said with gentle sorrow.<span> </span>“Thank
you.<span> </span>May we none of us live to regret
this.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">And then,
pulling himself together and stepping carefully away from the ailing Vampirate,
Franck approached the Lich.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“I don’t suppose
it will be very long before your brethren come join us,” he said, “so I think
it’s time we made you talk.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">And he drew
something else out of his pockets that he had been concealing.<span> </span>And the Lich began to scream.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2011/01/episode-i-from-dusk-til-dawn.html">FIRST EPISODE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="https://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2020/05/ccvii-dead-end-discussion.html">PREVIOUS EPISODE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="https://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2020/06/ccix-unterred-rogation.html">NEXT EPISODE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/p/archive.html">FULL ARCHIVE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://topwebfiction.com/vote.php?for=shadow" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><b>Like SHADOW? Please vote!</b></a></div></div>Seraphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09868936677041820760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607893274808105146.post-12183193691989355342020-05-24T12:06:00.001+01:002020-05-31T12:43:15.978+01:00CCVII - Dead End Discussion<div style="text-align: justify;">Gulliver woke up, coughing and choking on seawater, on a cold, hard rock shore, lit a dim, insecure purple by two flickering hypostatick lamps. The Former Baron was leaning over him, still dressed in his diving suit but with the helmet removed, eyes shut tight and mouth open wide as he bent towards the spluttering pirate.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“I’m awake! I’m awake!” Gulliver managed as he pushed the Former Baron out of the way in one direction and rolled himself over in the other to retch water at the rock.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Oh, well that is helpful,” Franck said, though he sounded a little put out, “resuscitation was never really my strong suit, not since that incident with a trumpet leech in first form.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Emesha laughed gently, then made her way towards Gulliver, who was still coughing up what felt like most of the ocean.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“You had us worried for a while there, my dear,” she said, “I was very nearly going to pronounce you dead.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“What ‘appened?” Gulliver asked, feeling lost and confused and so, in a way, oddly at home.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“When you dropped the lantern it got smashed against the hypostatick field causing just the kind of explosion we had hoped to avoid. It created a hole in the barrier which the storm swept you through, but it also broke the glass of your helmet and probably gave you a concussion in the process. Franck and I had to act quickly with our lanters, neutralising the field just long enough for us to follow you through and drag you up here.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“And where is ‘ere?” Gulliver asked, rubbing the part of his temple where he knocked it against the helmet and looking around at the tide-worn rock walls and stalactites dripping on him from above.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“This is the cave we were aiming for,” the Former Baron explained, having regained his composure and peeled himself out of his diving suit. “It was most fortunate that it wasn’t much further beyond the barrier, or we wouldn’t have been able to carry you here.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“So, this leads inside the castle?” Gulliver asked, then gulped. “There’s nothin’ between us and the Liches, now, is there?”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Emesha shook her head, slowly.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“So we need to be extremely careful how we proceed.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Did you actually ‘ave a plan for what to do once we got inside?”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Of course, I had a plan, my pirate friend!” the Former Baron replied, puffing himself up as he did so. “What do you take me for?”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Well… um…”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“We simply have to find a Lich, restrain it and then question it! Simple!”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Even Emesha looked aghast at this last.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“What?” The Former Baron asked, sounding wounded. “It is a perfectly practical plan, with clear, easy steps!”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Gulliver wanted to complain, but realised that it was a waste of time. If they were going to die horribly, they might as well just get on with it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He rose to stand, but the pain in his head was suddenly a lot worse and he felt a bit dizzy and sick. Emesha steadied him as he wobbled and lay him back down on the ground.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Oh, no,” she said, “I don’t think you’re going anywhere just yet.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“But…” Franck began until Emesha gave him a hard (and, Gulliver suspected, well-practised) stare.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“He’s not going anywhere, Franck. You’re going to have to catch a Lich by yourself.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Well, of course! That was the plan all along really. I only needed Gulliver to make the journey here less dull. He’s very pleasant company really, all japes and cheerfulness and tomfoolery and suchlike!”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Gulliver rolled his eyes, which, it turned out, also hurt. When he looked back at the Former Baron, however, he caught just a glimmer of fear in the old man’s eyes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Can’t you go with ‘im, Emesha?” he asked after a moment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“You need someone here with you,” the elderly Dhampyr replied. “With a head wound like that – it just wouldn’t be safe to leave you alone!”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“It’s alright, it’s alright!” Franck said, although he sounded more as if he were trying to reassure himself than that he was talking to anyone else. “I’ve faced worse than Liches before. I can do this. I can do this.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He stretched, put a hand, briefly to his stomach as if something there were bothering him, then tipped his hat and sauntered around the corner.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Good luck, Franck!” Gulliver called, but the old man was already well on his way.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Former Baron Von Spektr wandered through the lost and lonely corridors of the cellar of Coldsolace Keep, wondering how his life always seemed to consist of a series of monster-filled halways. That he might have made some poor life choices in the past never normally occurred to him, but as he slipped down the dank tunnels of the keep, evading the fierce purple glows of nearby Liches, feeling the electric hum in the air as he looked for somewhere he could use to capture one, he had begun to consider it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Occasionally, as he passed the ends of other corridors, or vast, cavernous chambers full of arcane machinery and implements of torture, he could hear the Liches communicating to one another in their strange language. It was not a tongue he had studied much in the past, though he could pick up a few words amidst the whispery, crackly howling. They were angry, hateful words and Franck was glad he didn’t understand any more.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Everywhere he moved, the situation seemed the same: endless corridors and half-empty rooms; Liches wandering through the darkness like lost souls; dead ends and dead ideas as Franck worked through plan after plan in his mind.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And then he came to yet another dead end, this one fitted with a pulley system for hauling something up a narrow shaft into the higher reaches of the keep, and was about to turn around to trace his steps back to the last junction, when the air began to feel charged with electricity once more and the tell-tale purple glow of a Lich could be seen creeping along the wall and round the last corner towards him.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Oh bother,” Franck said in a very small voice just as the Lich emerged from the corner and turned to look at him. “This hasn’t gone at all the way I wanted it to…”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“So, uh… you’re part Vampire, right?” Gulliver asked in the echoing silence of the cave as Emesha sat nearby, watching him closely.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“My ancestors were. The blood is still strong, though.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“What does that mean, exac’ly?”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Well, it manifests differently from one Dhampyr to another really. We usually live a lot longer than normal humans, but some also have mysterious abilities or weaknesses, like extra charm or an aversion to light.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“And you?”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“I’m nothing special,” she said with a laugh.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The silence returned, stretched, threatened to break.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“I knew a Vampire for a while.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Oh, really?”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“’is name was Lord Blood Dragon and-”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“You met <i>the </i>Lord Blood Dragon? What was he like?”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“A bit of a disappointment, really, which, in a Vampire, is somethin’ of a relief.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Hmm…”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“You know,” Gulliver said, stretching and yawning, despite the pain, “I’m getting’ quite sleepy, I could-”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Oh no!” Emesha said, leaping to her feet and rushing to Gulliver’s side. “Don’t sleep, Gulliver, don’t!”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“But I’m so… so sleepy!” he said. “Just a little nap…”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Emesha was shaking him now, but he was so tired that he could barely feel it. Her voice seemed to drifting in and out and her face was a fuzzy blur.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Stay with me, Gulliver!” she was calling and then, to his complete surprise, she pulled out a vial of something from her pocket and stabbed him with a needle. Then everything went black, again.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Well, well, <i>little </i>human,” the Lich said as it advanced towards Franck, its voice like the broken whispering of the wind after a storm, “<i>you’re </i>the one whose <i>fear </i>I could taste in the corridors. I <i>wonder </i>how you arrived <i>here</i>.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Well, it’s a very interesting story,” Franck began, taking a couple of steps nervously backward, “but a long one and I really don’t think we have time. Besides, you don’t appear to have any tea or biscuits in this establishment and I feel, very much, that they are a necessary part of any discour-”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“You like to <i>go on</i>, don’t you, little <i>human</i>?” the Lich interrupted as it made its steady progress down the corridor.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Well, I have been known to be quite a talker,” Franck continued, stepping back further still, “Indeed my third cousin on my father’s side, Inga, she was called, once accused me of babbling, but I think she had had a little too much gum wine on that occas-”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“I <i>prefer </i>to keep my words <i>brief</i>,” the Lich said, and its long, skeleton legs brought it ever closer.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Well then, I reckon you’re missing out on a whole, glorious world of conversational wonders. Think of the topics you might be missing out on: the chance to really get to know your prey; to educate them in turn! Indeed, that was why I came here in the first place as I really think that, once you caught the bug of engaging discussion, you would have <i>so </i>much to tell about all manner of things and I-”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“<i>Silence</i>!” the Lich roared like a hurricane and then, becoming such a storm of ancient bone and purple flame, leapt at the cornered Former Baron.</div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2011/01/episode-i-from-dusk-til-dawn.html">FIRST EPISODE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="https://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2020/05/ccvi-deep-infiltration.html">PREVIOUS EPISODE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="https://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2020/05/ccviii-seeing-red.html">NEXT EPISODE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/p/archive.html">FULL ARCHIVE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://topwebfiction.com/vote.php?for=shadow" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><b>Like SHADOW? Please vote!</b></a></div></div>Seraphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09868936677041820760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607893274808105146.post-66904993680377207152020-05-17T15:08:00.003+01:002020-05-24T12:06:58.070+01:00CCVI - Deep Infiltration<div style="text-align: justify;">Emesha Vehrnawp and her son the Viscount Arpad Vehrnawp were the last surviving members of the ancient Dhampyr house of Coldsolace and, though they could not live in it, of course, Coldsolace Keep was their birthright. Where the scions of most historic houses might expect to face the dramas of social engagements and maintaining the upkeep of their estates, the Counts and Countesses of Coldsolace had the solemn duty of maintaining the Hypostatick field around the keep to ensure that none of the Liches ever escaped to wreak havoc on Shadow, with a fair degree of success. Their day-to-day lives revolved around Hypostatick machinery and observations of the keep’s reluctant inhabitants. Emesha added her observations to a voluminous tome begun by her forebears, whilst Arpad preferred to stick to the aspects of Hypostatick Philosophy that the role required.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Unfortunately, that is where their differences first arose.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The first evidence Emesha had that Arpad had become involved with the Noble Society of Hypostatick Philosophers came during the height of the Lakhma crisis. As the sky was filled with roiling clouds and coiling tentacles and Emesha was busier than ever making sure that the Hypostatick field wasn’t compromised by the phenomenal amounts of Hypostatick energy being unleashed all the time, Arpad would instead spend his hours in his private basement laboratory and sending messages by homing bat. She intercepted one of these messages by accident once when one of the bats flew too close to the field and fell to her feet as a charred little corpse. She had been curious about her son’s activities, though had always given him his space - it did not do to smother one’s heirs too much – so she sneaked a look and was extremely surprised and then more than a little worried to see that it was addressed to Doctor Rosetta Barkham and contained detailed research about the locations of various obelisks which might pose a threat to them. The letter was quietly destroyed and Emesha tried to think nothing more of it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After Lakhma’s defeat and the ensuing silence from any members of the Noble Society, Emesha began to hope that Arpad would turn a page and leave the whole business behind him, but she was to be quickly disappointed. Only a week after the skies cleared, he summoned a cadre of former Noble Society lackeys to the Lodge which had become their ancestral home once the keep was repurposed. He did this quite openly, declaring to all Coldsolace that he was going to see the Noble Society reborn to further the goals of Hypostatick Philosophy. Emesha was appalled.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Those who answered his summons were a disreputable bunch – those too low in the Noble Society to have suffered the same fate as the others, now jumped-up and high on their own ignoble exaltation, or those, like Arpad himself, who had supported the Society at a distance, too cowardly to do so publicly. Emesha could only watch them come and go from the lodge with disdain.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But then, not long after that, came the day that she discovered evidence of what was, in her eyes, the ultimate betrayal.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She had been looking through the logbook, auditing old entries. The majority were in her own hand but just a few were written by Arpad and it was one of these from some time ago that took her notice. It was clear that what was written there now was not what had been written there originally. A clumsy act of deletion had taken place and over the top Arpad had written an account of a Lich which had destroyed itself by interacting to vigorously with the Hypostatick field.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The first part of the issue was the Emesha could not recall the event in question, but when she double checked the count numbers from before and after the event there certainly had been one Lich missing. But why had the entry been changed? She decided to confront her son about it directly, sure that there would be a very logical answer. Unfortunately, now that Arpad was a rising star in the new Noble Society, it turned out that there was and he was not at all ashamed to admit it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“I released one of them,” he said matter-of-factly over the breakfast table, not even looking up from his newspaper.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“You did <i>what</i>?” Emesha was, for want of a better word, aghast. No Vehrnawp had released a Lich on purpose since the creatures were first imprisoned in their keep. “What on earth were you thinking?”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“M. Marveille of the Noble Society requested it for one of their projects and I saw no reason to deny him.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“But you saw reason enough to conceal that you had done it?”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Well,” he replied, suppressing a yawn, “I knew that <i>you </i>would not approve and there was no point antagonising you, then.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Then what has changed?”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Circumstances,” the viscount replied, finally looking up. “I am now the Grandmaster of the New Noble Society of Hypostatick Philosophy and I see no reason-”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At this point the Former Baron could not contain his mirth.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Grandmaster?” he laughed, “Grandmaster!? Your boy sure does have delusions of grandeur, doesn’t he? Why, I haven’t even <i>heard </i>of this New Noble Society!”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Emesha seemed a little put out. “If you’d let me finish my story, Franck, darling.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“But of course, my dear. But. Of. Course!”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“I see no reason whatsoever to deny any connections I might have had with them in the past. Besides, I need no longer live in fear of <i>your </i>interference.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“And why might that be?”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Because, dearest mother, I’m disowning you. I planned to tell you this evening, but now is as good a time as any. I’d like you to pack your things and leave the lodge before noon, please.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“But… but I’m still the Countess!”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Indeed, but that hardly matters now. Why, it’s hardly mattered these past few centuries. I’m not sure why you should be the exception now.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“But-”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Arpad stared at her very intently. “Mother, if you do not do as I ask, I will ensure that you are made to.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At this, two of the most disreputable-looking members of this ‘New Society’ appeared through the door behind him, their eyes filled with violence.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Emesha left as meekly as she was able.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“And so you see, I have been locked out. I no longer have the access that I used to and that is going to be a problem when it comes to getting you inside the keep.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Oh, my dear, dear, Emesha,” the Former Baron said sadly, all trace of his earlier amusement gone, “it is so hard a thing to be betrayed by your nearest and dearest, is it not?”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Yes. I feel I much better understand your position all these years, now – but, say, now that Tiberius is presumably dead, can’t you be reinstated as the <i>Current </i>Baron Von Spektr?”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“I suppose I could,” said the Former Baron slightly wistfully, “but no – I’ve had quite enough of all that. Besides, Tiberius has forever tainted the Grand Chateau for me.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Wouldn’t it be rather useful, though?” Gulliver asked. “You know, ‘avin’ all of ‘is equipment and books and things?”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“And forsake the Colony? I wouldn’t dream of it!” He shook his head vigorously. “But what about you, Emesha? What are we going to do about you?”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“What is there to do? I’m locked out of the Lodge, kept away from the Keep. There isn’t anything I <i>can </i>do, is there?”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Surely you must know a back way in that Arpad doesn’t, though? You always were good at keeping secrets.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Well,” the Countess replied after a moment’s thought, “there is one way in he might not have secured – but it is rather dangerous and it would require some very <i>specialist </i>equipment.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Gulliver gulped, but the Former Baron seemed merely to sigh with contentment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Oh, Emesha,” he said, “you <i>do </i>know how to make an old man happy.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Gulliver sighed. He’d have said something to express his current misery, but there was no way either the Countess or the Former Baron would be able to hear him, encased as he was in an over-sized brass and leather diving suit with a hose connecting him to a cacophonous air pump chugging away on the deck of the small fishing boat Emesha had rented for their use. The boat was being tossed about by ferocious waves, perilously close to Coldsolace’s imposing cliff-face, whilst Gulliver, Emesha and Franck plodded along the seabed towards the entrance of a submerged cave.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It was incredibly dark and murky; what little light Gulliver’s hypostatick lamp produced being swallowed up by silt from the seabed as the waves churned and large, sinuous shapes flickered through the chaos. Gulliver was struggling not to be mixed up with it, even weighted down as he was, and it was all he could do to inch his way forwards until he began to encounter the hard rock walls of the cave entrance, which was where he’d been told to stop. A few moments later the hypostatick glow of his companions emerged from the silt and he breathed a pumped sigh of relief, though the next part was going to be trickier.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Just a few feet ahead of them, though it was impossible to tell at that moment, lay the hypostatick barrier that kept the Liches inside Coldsolace Keep and it still needed to be circumvented if they wanted to get inside themselves. For this, Emesha had rigged up their hypostatick lanterns to interrupt the flow of the barrier, but to work, they had to be applied to the barrier with considerable care as making the two come into contact too suddenly or with too much force was likely to call a small (and under the water, potentially catastrophic) explosion. They also needed to use all three lanterns together. With the amount of turbulence and silt surrounding them right then, Gulliver wasn’t sure how that could possibly be coordinated.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Franck took the lead, once he was vaguely within sight, plodding the few extra steps towards the barrier, which became suddenly visible in the light of his lantern: a sheet of rippling purplish energy which the ocean seemed to batter itself against. Gulliver could see that the water beyond it was much less murky as he followed a couple of steps behind. Emesha was also following, just a little to one side.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Franck raised his lantern and Emesha did likewise. Gulliver, who was, by now, standing right in front of the barrier moved to do the same, then fumbled his lantern so that it slipped from between the leather-gloved fingers of his diving suit. He watched in unsurprised horror as it dropped towards the seabed, tossed this way and that by the tumultuous current, the barrier mere inches away. And then it wasn’t.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It happened so fast and in the midst of such murk that Gulliver was never sure exactly what occurred. He only knew that there was a blinding purple flash, a rush of current which sent him hurtling forwards in a torrent of silt into waters which had, a moment before, been clear and still and then he saw the rocky wall of the cave looming before him, felt himself smash into it with tremendous force and was dimly aware of water leaking into his suit before his vision clouded into oceanic depths.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2011/01/episode-i-from-dusk-til-dawn.html">FIRST EPISODE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="https://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2018/09/ccv-coldsolace.html">PREVIOUS EPISODE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="https://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2020/05/ccvii-dead-end-discussion.html">NEXT EPISODE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/p/archive.html">FULL ARCHIVE</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://topwebfiction.com/vote.php?for=shadow" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><b>Like SHADOW? Please vote!</b></a></div></div><div><br /></div>Seraphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09868936677041820760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607893274808105146.post-27840743600067363022018-09-30T08:55:00.003+01:002020-05-17T15:08:52.672+01:00CCV - Coldsolace<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">Gulliver was miserable. He wasn’t sure, but it was possible that he had never been so miserable before. Even if he had, however, he was sure that this was in the top five moments of utter misery in his life, although he suspected that it could get pushed further down the rankings at any moment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“Are you sure about this, Franck?” he asked for what might have been the hundredth time that day. He hadn’t been keeping count.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“Like I said the other fifty-seven times today-” apparently Franck had “-we need all the information on the Ancients that we can get and if, as I suppose, these Liches have even a morsel more than that to which we’ve hitherto had access, then we need to acquire it, through any means necessary.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“I know all that,” Gulliver replied miserably, “but really: just look at it!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">He was referring to Coldsolace Keep, the mighty edifice of charred stone which rose up to the north out of the barricade of cliffs that hemmed the district of Coldscolace in against the sea. It was not just dark and imposing. Towering over the district and branching like a twisted tree, its many buttressed, mist-shrouded turrets like barbed arrowheads, Coldsolace Keep was what dark and imposing found dark and imposing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">“Oh, it’s really nothing to worry about,” Franck reassured, “it’s only that big and charred and misshapen because of centuries of Lich attempts to escape it. It’s a symbol of their deviousness and malign intellect, but also of the fact that they are almost completely trapped in there.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2018/09/ccv-coldsolace.html#more">Read on...</a>Seraphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09868936677041820760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607893274808105146.post-6439345604133808582018-09-10T21:06:00.003+01:002018-09-30T08:56:01.350+01:00CCIV - Cooler Heads<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“You arrived just in time,” Shadowsmoke said in his low, rumbling voice once the dust had cleared on their violence. “I’m not sure we could have done that without your help. Good to see you again, Sarah, by the way.” He gave her a sharp-toothed grin which, nonetheless, seemed warm and friendly for a Spiketail.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“We weren’t expecting to be the cavalry, I assure you,” Sarah replied, “but of course you’re welcome.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“And yet,” the Shaman said glancing furtively up and down the corridor, “I fear we had best move on before more come along to bother us. Featherflame was certainly not the only diehard among the citizens of Ashvault and her death may just make things worse. I need to get to my home, but these unrepentant bigots keep getting in the way.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“We’ll do what we can to help,” Frostfire said, “but then we have questions that need answers.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“About Those-Who-Came-Before? Yes, I suspected as much. I knew I couldn’t be the only one who had seen the signs. But quickly, we must hurry!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">He gestured for his followers to take the corridor off to the right, in the direction Sarah and Frostfire had been heading, then hurried along after them with the two just behind. There were twists and turns, doorways off to other rooms to the left and right, but the Spiketails knew exactly where they were going and there was no hesitation any time a junction threatened to confuse. Just before they reached the next set of stairs, however, they were set upon by another gang of Grinders with two snake-like Creepers and a Slatewing. The Grinders were dispatched quickly, with the help of Sarah’s Slayer powers and a Black Sand incantation from the Shaman, but the Slatewing stayed until just before the last Grinder fell and then flew off down a side corridor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Fetching reinforcements, no doubt,” Shadowsmoke observed. “That only means that we need to be quicker!” he added before dashing up the stairs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2018/09/cciv-cooler-heads.html#more">Read on...</a>Seraphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09868936677041820760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607893274808105146.post-7327563871606580482018-09-03T12:35:00.000+01:002018-09-10T21:07:17.875+01:00CCIII - Sieves and Civil War<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sarah felt the heat growing against her face as she fell. So, too, grew the certainty of her demise. Frostfire might survive in the magma, for all she knew, but for her there could be no alternative. Her flesh would ignite long before she hit the lake of molten rock. It would be tremendously painful, but, she hoped and prayed, it might at least be quite brief.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Please let it end soon, Lord</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">, she prayed, <i>please let it-</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Her prayer was interrupted by a sudden jolt as she stopped falling, Frostfire’s arm tightening around her waist before beginning to haul her upwards. She opened her eyes. They were clinging to a ledge above the magma pool, about ten metres below the entrance to the lava tube. Sarah had been unable to see it from above, but Frostfire must have known it was there and now he was lifting her up to place her on the solid stone away from the rising heat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“I thought we were going to die,” she said as Frostfire climbed up beside her. She was shaking now as the shock of the moment finally hit her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">If a Stoneskin could roll its ball-of-fire eyes, then Frostfire would have in that moment. “Do you still not trust me?” he asked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Oh no,” she replied, “I do and, just then, I trusted you to kill us cleanly rather than face any other path out.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The Spiketail seemed to absorb this and ponder it a moment before nodding. “Good,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Somewhere up above them the fighting was intensifying and, with a tremendous roar, a Grinder plummeted past to splash into the magma far below. Sarah saw its eyes turned blood-red to match the molten rock before, arm outstretched, it sank forever into the glowing pool.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“What is going on up there?” she asked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“It looks like civil war,” Frostfire said emotionlessly as he looked up towards the conflict. Then, after a moment, added, “We should find Shadowsmoke.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2018/09/cciii-sieves-and-civil-war.html#more">Read on...</a>Seraphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09868936677041820760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607893274808105146.post-11023413419285980572018-08-28T21:32:00.001+01:002018-09-03T12:35:34.174+01:00CCII - The Magmaworms<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sarah did not need to be told to run twice. She took off up the lava tube with Frostfire loping along beside, leaping and dodging the pieces of clinker left behind by some ancient flow as she went. It was hard going, but there was only one way to run and that was ever onwards and upwards. It ought to have been difficult to keep up with the Stoneskin, but Sarah’s Slayer powers had kicked in the moment she started running – it was second-nature to her now – and so she was able to match his stride with relative ease.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">They had been running for about a minute before they heard the first sign of pursuit, a loud scraping sound as something sharp was dragged rapidly across the stone wall of the tube. It was a little like the sound of a knife being sharpened, only as if the knife were being sharpened constantly and just in one direction. It was both gravelly and shrill and it was getting louder.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Then came the low moaning sound again, building up the tunnel behind them like a storm wind and with it came a sudden, searing heat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“It’s gaining on us,” she shouted, “how much longer is this lava tube?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Too long,” Frostfire admitted, but he didn’t stop running.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The sound of the creature behind them grew louder and louder as the air grew hotter and a vermillion light flickered up the walls beside them. Sarah was sure that whatever-it-was must be only inches back, now and that, at any moment, it would begin to devour them. She thought about her life ending this suddenly and a prayer came unbidden to her mind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Lord God,</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> she prayed, <i>if this is to be the end, then please make it quick, make it painless, but if it’s not your will</i>-<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Frostfire grabbed her suddenly by the arm and yanked her sideways so that she lost her footing and was then dragged across the rock into momentary darkness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2018/08/ccii-magmaworms.html#more">Read on...</a>Seraphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09868936677041820760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607893274808105146.post-4668076695293578182018-08-26T23:22:00.000+01:002018-08-26T23:22:31.900+01:00Delays? Already!?Okay, okay, so I've managed three weeks in a row and now, suddenly, I haven't met a deadline! What a spectacular run <i>that</i> was, etc. etc. etc.<br />
<br />
The truth is, it has been a busy week in a number of ways and, in fact, one of the reasons I've returned to writing Shadow is to help me with my real-life anxiety disorder. Supposedly creative writing is something that can help with that or something.<br />
<br />
Anyway, that very anxiety has made this a particularly tough week and I chose mostly just to read and sleep as a response to that rather than pushing myself to write another episode. I <i>have</i> begun one and I <i>will</i> produce it sometime this week, but it won't be today and I'm not too concerned about that. I want to be able to produce Shadow episodes on time, but this is absolutely not supposed to be something I get <i>worried </i>about.<br />
<br />
I hope you can bear with me on this and that you enjoy the next episode when it happens. :)<br />
<br />
As always, thank you for reading and feel free to tell me what you think in the comments.Seraphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09868936677041820760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607893274808105146.post-51229981258817219802018-08-19T19:04:00.000+01:002018-08-28T21:32:33.245+01:00Episode CCI - The Lava Tubes<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"> Sarah looked up at the ashen walls surrounding Ashvault and let out a deep sigh. She had hoped never to return when she had left with Frostfire and Dimsun after receiving the ‘gift’ of Slayer powers from Shadowsmoke and though her opinion of Frostfire and the Stoneskins </span>in general<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"> had changed quite a bit in the time since, she nonetheless found little to relish in the thought of entering the old volcano-city once more. Besides, standing there, at the great stone gates, just made her think of Dimsun once more and though it had been almost a year since his death, it still hurt to remember.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Let’s get this over with quickly,” she said to Frostfire as he finished sealing up the Hypostatick carriage they had ridden - slowly, thanks to the drifts of ash clogging up the roads - from the Colony and stepped up beside her. His expression, as much as Sarah was able to read its stony crevices and burning eyes, seemed more grim than usual. “What’s the matter?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“It is quiet,” he replied and his cool eyes flared brightly for a second before dimming.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sarah listened. It was indeed quiet. The wind made a low moan as it breathed over the ruins of Crystalvale and picked up flurries of dust, but other than that she could hear nothing and, now that she thought about it, this close to Ashvault’s busily guarded gate, that was cause for concern.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2018/08/sarah-looked-up-at-ashen-walls.html#more">Read on...</a>Seraphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09868936677041820760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607893274808105146.post-62889558140260659672018-08-12T08:39:00.000+01:002018-08-12T08:39:08.283+01:00Shadow is back.So, if you're visiting this site, you've most likely noticed that Shadow has had something of a soft-relaunch. After almost three years of silence, Shadow is back with weekly episodes and the story of Ellis, Siren, the Former Baron and friends continues at last!<br />
<br />
I didn't want to make a news post about it until I was sure I could get back into the rhythm of writing weekly episodes, but with three weeks of consecutive episodes behind me and with the landmark that is <a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2018/08/episode-cc-gates-of-gihana.html">Episode CC</a> under my belt, I feel confident to say that Shadow is well and truly back!<br />
<br />
One of the main reasons I've finally returned to writing Shadow after all this time is that I've actually been struggling quite a bit in real life recently and I was advised to take advantage of creative outlets to relieve my anxiety and try to relax and feel normal. It's a small part of a much larger treatment program, but, whatever the benefits, it does feel good to be writing again and I hope you're enjoying having Shadow back as much as I am.<br />
<br />
Remember, you can always comment on any episode. I love receiving feedback and answering questions. Also, if you like Shadow, please remember to <a href="http://topwebfiction.com/vote.php?for=shadow">vote for it here <i>every week</i></a>, so that more people can find it more easily.<br />
<br />
Until next week!Seraphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09868936677041820760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607893274808105146.post-26883393601128212372018-08-12T08:28:00.000+01:002018-08-19T19:05:07.587+01:00Episode CC - The Gates of Gihana<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Ellis felt twitchy and restless as he and Siren made their way through the impossible city of the Ancients. Partly this was because he expected the defences to come alive at any moment and force them into another race for their lives through the Escheresque streets, but mostly it was simply a symptom of the Slayer magick which had made him so suddenly powerful, and yet, ironically, had deprived him of anything to do with such power.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">There was also the aspect of their search for their friends, which, despite having begun nearly an hour before, had borne no fruit whatsoever. They had been relieved to find no evidence of Annabella and Nadiyya’s untimely demises near the entrance to the city, but that relief had quickly turned to puzzlement when there had turned out to be no clues as to what had actually become of them. The only option remaining had been to explore the city and hope they stumbled upon a fresh lead.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And what an exploration it had become. They had tried to be methodical, to make mental notes of the streets they turned down, doorways they passed through and ramps and steps they climbed, but there was no logic to the layout of the city – at least, there was no logic that they could discern – and Ellis quickly became lost. He assumed that Siren had kept her bearings until she paused on a landing of one of the maze-like stairways and scratched her head.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Oh, please don’t tell me that you’re lost, too!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“No,” Siren replied, slightly evasively, “not lost so much, more just… a little turned around.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“What do you mean, ‘turned around’?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Well… I’m not entirely sure if we’ve been here before. All these junctions look the same!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“So, do you have any idea how to get us back out of here?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Siren paused then, “Uh… no. Sorry.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2018/08/episode-cc-gates-of-gihana.html#more">Read on...</a>Seraphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09868936677041820760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607893274808105146.post-46127811666383366762018-08-05T08:24:00.000+01:002018-08-12T08:28:32.249+01:00Episode CXCIX - The Sentinels of Gihana<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Oh, I do so love a warm welcome,” Siren said before grabbing Ellis’ arm and yanking him sideways as the first of the impossible geometric defences hurtled towards their position.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Ellis let out an unmanly yelp as the defender – a monolith of stone or metal or crystal, constantly changing in configuration like some blocky Minecraft mecha – crunched down on the spot in which he had been standing mere nanoseconds before.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“How the hell are we-“ he began, before Siren pulled him towards her once more and another sheet of hefty death descended behind him like a lead shadow. They ran then, ducking and diving, weaving through a living avalanche of crystalline forms. Ellis held tight onto Siren’s hand and followed her lead, trusting her to navigate this slalom of destruction, though to what safety or shelter, he was having difficulty imagining.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">There wasn’t a lot of opportunity to look around and it was fair to say that they hadn’t had much time to survey the layout of the city before the assault began, but from what Ellis could make out, it was fairly open and any shelter there might have been was designed for the former occupants and their defences, not for them. He didn’t think taking shelter in an Ancient’s parlour would be much to their advantage, for example.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And as the defences slammed down all around them, Ellis realised that he had no idea what had become of Annabella and Nadiyya. He could only hope they were able to hold their own, though he wasn’t sure how much longer any of them might last.<o:p></o:p></span><br>
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br>
</div><a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2018/08/episode-cxcix-sentinels-of-gihana.html#more">Read on...</a>Seraphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09868936677041820760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607893274808105146.post-56168154486523412512018-07-29T14:07:00.000+01:002018-08-05T08:25:12.906+01:00Episode CXCVIII -The Light in the Darkness<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">“A question I could well ask <i>you</i>, Ellis Graves,” Nadiyya replied, punctuating each syllable with little thrusting gestures from the knife in her right hand, “It has been a long time since you left me for dead in Shadedstreams, has it not?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> “I… I actually don’t remember a lot about that, Nadiyya, I’m sorry,” he replied, shamefaced, “I was kind of in a daze for a long time afterwards.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> “A convenient excuse, I’m sure.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> “No, really,” Siren interjected, “it was all a kind of existential crisis, really, stemming from his discovery – thanks to your father, I believe – that he is, in fact, an hypostatick construct created by Doctor Rosetta Barkham of the Noble Society of Hypostatick Philisophers to recreate the Breakthrough. Something like that, anyway.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> “It’s more common than you’d think,” added Annabella with knowing grin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> “What are you talking about? And who are you two anyway? And does any of it excuse the fact that I was left in the rubble of my father’s palace for days before they dug me out and by then you were all long gone, you and your ‘Former Baron’.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> “I really am sorry, Nadiyya, but I honestly don’t remember anything for weeks after your father opened the way for Lakhma to come through. I’m not even sure how we escaped.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> “Is this why you followed us all the way here?” asked Siren.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br></div>
<a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2018/07/episode-cxcviii-light-in-darkness.html#more">Read on...</a>Seraphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09868936677041820760noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607893274808105146.post-23142672711072453582015-11-13T15:34:00.004+00:002018-08-18T21:10:58.352+01:00Episode CXCVII - Noondeep<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">"Ellis, wake up. I think we've arrived."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent3">
Siren's voice cut through a murky sea of dreamed half-logic and impossible continuities, dragging Ellis up to surface into hot, filtered daylight, a seatbelt strap cutting into his side and an ache in the small of his back. He shifted into a more upright position, turned to face his fiancée and attempted a smile. It felt lopsided and half-hearted, but Siren returned it with a glorious one of her own - a sunrise to his fading nightscape.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent3">
"It looks like you could have used a few hours more," she said, brushing a lock of hair away from his face, "but I think you'll do." A quick kiss finished the magical resurrection and Ellis began to feel human once more.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">He peered out through the window of the sky-cab to see a vast, empty desert plain stretching off towards the horizon. It was such a surreal sight on that world of endless streets that he had to do a double take.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">"We're still on Shadow, right?" he asked, turning back to Siren. Annabella, sitting opposite, let out a giggle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br></div>
<a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2015/11/episode-cxcvii-noondeept.html#more">Read on...</a>Seraphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09868936677041820760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607893274808105146.post-68560444241585544112015-10-04T22:22:00.000+01:002015-11-13T15:35:53.951+00:00Episode CXCVI - No Hiding Place<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">"So
what do we do now?" Gulliver asked in the silence of the library as he
stared around at his companions. Less
than an hour had passed since the Stoneskin siege of the Colony had ended and
the vast majority of the angry Colonists had returned to their homes. There was a palpable sense of relief but also
- Gulliver was sure he wasn't the only one feeling it - of anti-climax.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">"Research!"
declared the Former Baron with confidence and enthusiasm. "Lots and lots of research!"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">"Oh,"
Gulliver replied gloomily, "wonderful."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">"I
don't suppose there's anything else for it," Siren observed, "after
all, we really don't know very much about these ancients at all."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">"We
know a little more than I let on, Siren, my dear."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">All eyes
turned to the old Philosopher.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2015/10/episode-cxcvi-no-hiding-place.html#more">Read on...</a>Seraphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09868936677041820760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607893274808105146.post-2353878799178679062015-09-20T22:53:00.002+01:002015-10-04T22:22:40.649+01:00Episode CXCV - The Rock Cried Out<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sarah
breathed a sigh of relief as the Former Baron began speaking, feeling the
tension flood out of her so suddenly that, for just a moment, she was on the
verge of tears. She slid down until she
was resting against the railing, swallowed hard and blinked away the burning
sensation in her eyes. Frostfire was
staring at her. He hadn't said a thing
since she had begun talking to the crowd.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">"Just
who is this whose returning?" a voice from the crowd shouted. Sarah didn't look to see who. She was content enough to listen for the time
being. "Is it Lakhma, or something
similar?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">"That's
a very good question," Franck replied, "and I'm very glad you asked
it, because it means you are at least partially ready to believe what I'm about
to say."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><i>Which is
what all this has been about, hasn't it Franck?</i> Sarah thought with just a hint
of bitterness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2015/09/episode-cxcv-rock-cried-out.html#more">Read on...</a>Seraphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09868936677041820760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607893274808105146.post-17475488550480977312015-09-11T23:09:00.001+01:002015-09-20T22:54:19.842+01:00Episode CXCIV - Fire from Above<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sarah looked
up the moment she realised that the noise had died down outside. At first she wasn't sure what had happened,
thought that maybe her prayers had been answered very directly indeed, but then
she made out Siren's voice, reprimanding the crowd for their actions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Is she defending me?</span></i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> she thought.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">She closed
her eyes again, uttered another prayer for guidance and understanding and then,
suddenly, she realised what she had to do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">"I have
to confront them," she said aloud, then, as the thought came to her,
added, "but not on my own. I still have
work to do."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2015/09/episode-cxciv-fire-from-above.html#more">Read on...</a>Seraphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09868936677041820760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607893274808105146.post-23202228897592780312015-09-05T12:44:00.000+01:002015-09-11T23:10:23.270+01:00Episode CXCIII - Mob Mentality<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sarah dashed
out into the Sanctuary just in time to see the doors shake once more as
whatever was on the other side tried to get in.
The bar which held the doors shut was, like the rest of the church, made
from recovered wood from the debris of Shalereef and it wasn't really designed
to take such abuse. Sarah could already
see a splintered crack forming in the middle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Worse than
that, much worse, was the sound which followed.
It was the sound of dozens of angry voices - the voices of those Sarah
knew and had cared for in the Colony - calling her name and demanding that
Frostfire be released to their justice.
Just when Sarah's life seemed like it couldn't get any more exciting and
depressing at the same time, or any more like some early-twentieth century
horror movie, it appeared that the church was surrounded by an angry, baying
mob.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Oh hell</span></i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">, she thought, not even taking the time to
correct her language, <i>what am I supposed
to do now? I didn't think any of this
through, I...<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">"We
know you're in there, Sarah!" came a loud voice from just beyond the door,
"come out, or we'll bash our way in!"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">There was
another bang against the door and Sarah watched as it shook in its frame, just
like her hands were shaking as she drew them together, dropped to her knees and
began to pray. At last.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2015/09/episode-cxciii-mob-mentality.html#more">Read on...</a>Seraphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09868936677041820760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607893274808105146.post-14243768350905519582015-07-06T23:14:00.000+01:002015-09-05T12:44:49.127+01:00Episode CXCII - Undercroft Overview<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: 42.55pt;">Ellis did
not like to be woken early.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: 42.55pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: 42.55pt;">He liked to
lie in bed as long as possible, dreaming whatever dreams would come, slipping
in and out of lucidity to become master of his imaginary world.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: 42.55pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: 42.55pt;">To be interrupted was to lose control.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: 42.55pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: 42.55pt;">To be woken was to feel the bubble burst and
find that what once was oil-sheen shimmering on the crystal surface, was now
residue holding you down.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: 42.55pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: 42.55pt;">The sound of
the door banging - an infuriating rhythm out of step with the music of a party
just a few moments before - came again and Ellis rolled over.</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Siren was
stirring beside him, a look of confusion and anger forming slowly on her face,
but even so it was a pleasing sight. He
rubbed his eyes, gave her the least energetic of smiles and then rolled out of
bed to scrabble around for something half-decent to wear.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">"Who do
you suppose it could be at this hour?" Siren asked as she cinched the belt
around the waist of her trousers and straightened up her loose assortment of
blades.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">"I have
no idea," the knocks came again, even more insistent this time, "but
it's clear that they aren't going away any time soon."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">They opened
the door together, staring out into the morning half-light to see a
miserable-looking militiaman standing in the ashes at the bottom of their
steps.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">"Markus?"
Siren demanded, "What in Lakhma's name are you doing here!?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Ellis had to
repress a shudder at Siren's loose use of the elder god's name. He still wasn't sure they had really seen the
last of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">"The
Former Baron sent me," the young guard said nervously, "he wants you
over at Tentacle Lane immediately!"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">"Whatever
for?" Ellis asked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">"There's
been an... incident," Markus replied sheepishly, "Sarah she...
well... Frostfire is..."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">"Oh
no," Ellis moaned, "she's done something stupid, hasn't she... this
is all <i>our</i> fault."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">"Nonsense,
Ellis," Siren reprimanded, "if Sarah has interfered with the prisoner
then she has no one to blame but herself."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">For some
reason Markus appeared to stand up straighter as she said that. Ellis had no idea how Siren managed it, but
she really was a born leader.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">"Anyway,"
she continued with a sigh, "we'd better hurry and see what Franck intends
us to do about it. Lead on,
Markus!"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The
militiaman saluted, something which seemed to surprise even him, then did a
parade turn and marched off down the street toward the remains of Tentacle Lane
and the Former Baron's ramshackle demesne.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-indent: 42.55pt;">
<br></div>
<a href="http://shadowsodes.blogspot.com/2015/07/episode-cxcii-undercroft-overview.html#more">Read on...</a>Seraphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09868936677041820760noreply@blogger.com0